The global economic disruptions and turmoil of recent years have made it challenging for many enterprises to make informed decisions about hiring and overall investment plans.  In this context, the ongoing planning, monitoring and management of financial and operating results have become critical to the success of organizations across the globe.  As a result, many enterprises are increasing their investments in technologies that can help streamline financial management processes and support more informed, agile decision-making.

It’s with this backdrop that European market research firm BARC published their BARC Score report for Financial Performance Management (FPM) for 2023.  Read on to learn about the latest market trends and why OneStream was recognized as a leader in the market for the 3^rd year in a row.

FPM is About Looking Backward and Forward

While they call it financial performance management (FPM) and we call it corporate performance management (CPM), the analysts at BARC are spot on in recognizing the importance of having a performance management platform that looks back into the past (“what has happened”) as well as helps enterprises plan and manage the future (“what will happen”).

The 2023 BARC Score for FPM software evaluates vendors that provide integration of various financial processes in a common software platform – including planning, budgeting and forecasting, financial close and consolidation as well as reporting and analytics.  Having these processes closely aligned is critical to effective decision-making and enabling high productivity for users in Finance and lines of business.

Some of the key market trends identified in the 2023 BARC Score FPM report include the following:

• An accelerated supply of information for decision-makers.
• Increasing consideration of internal and external data for decision-making.
• Greater use of data and analytics in decision-making and management processes.
• Short-term planning and forecasts with a higher updating frequency.
• Digitalization and greater software support for internal processes as an essential basis for their optimization and further automation.

According to BARC, support from modern and requirements-oriented software solutions is an essential element in achieving these goals. The BARC Score for FPM software analyzes the strengths and challenges of the leading FPM vendors in the market that should be considered by potential buyers.

Digging Into the BARC Score for FPM Software

Under the BARC Score methodology, every vendor is evaluated on two dimensions, Portfolio Capabilities and Market Execution. Each represents one axis on the BARC Score.

These two dimensions include the following sub-criteria:

• Portfolio Capabilities reflect functional and architectural criteria. A special emphasis is placed on ease of use for business users. Regarding the vendor ratings in this BARC Score, the focus is rather on the prebuilt business content and FPM solutions that the vendors provide and less on flexibility for individual applications that can be built with development environments.

This pre-built functionality is evaluated across Financial Planning, Financial Consolidation, Reporting, Analysis and Operational Planning and Forecasting.

• Market Execution rates the FPM vendors in this BARC Score on factors such as Product Strategy, Customer Satisfaction, Financials, Geographical Coverage, Ecosystem, Sales Strategy, Organizational Strength and Marketing Strategy.

Based on their scoring on these two dimensions, vendors are categorized into one of 5 regions:  Dominators, Leaders, Challengers, Specialists and Entrants.

So the million-dollar question is – how was OneStream rated in the report?

OneStream is a Global Leader in FPM Software

For the 3^rd year in a row, OneStream was recognized as a Leader in the BARC Score for FPM software report.  In fact, our Leadership position improved slightly in the 2023 report, with OneStream now sharing the highest-rated Portfolio Capabilities and improving our rating on Market Execution. And it’s important to note that OneStream is recognized as a leader in both the global (see figure 1) and DACH versions of this report.

Looking at the key strengths highlighted by BARC in the report, OneStream was recognized as a leader in FPM software based on the following:

• Integrated CPM platform for financial consolidation and close, planning, budgeting and forecasting, reporting and analytics with built-in financial intelligence and financial data quality capabilities, available in the Microsoft Azure cloud.
• Integrated BI and analytics functionality for (print-oriented) production reporting, financial reporting (disclosure management) with self-service dashboards and visualizations, and ad hoc analysis via Microsoft Excel add-in.
• MarketPlace with more than 50 predefined business and productivity solutions.
• Excellent customer feedback in recent years for many important KPIs in BARC’s ‘The Planning Survey’ including customer satisfaction with vendor and product, price-to-value and functionality for workflows. Many customers say they would recommend the platform to other organizations.

Learn More

Being recognized as a Leader in the BARC Score for FPM software is important as BARC performs a very thorough evaluation of software vendors and is very influential with Finance and IT buyers especially in the DACH region, and across EMEA in general.

To learn more, download a complimentary copy of the BARC Score for FPM solutions and contact OneStream if your organization is ready to take the leap from spreadsheets and point solutions to a comprehensive CPM software platform that can help you make confident decisions that maximize business impact.

Download the Report

Evaluating and selecting financial planning software for an organization can be a challenging process.  There are a wide variety of software vendors in the market to choose from, often with similar messaging and what can sound like similar capabilities.  Best practice is to start by identifying your organization’s current and future business requirements today, and then compare your requirements to solution capabilities.

Industry analyst reports such as the Gartner® Magic Quadrants™ and Critical Capabilities™ Reports can help organizations generate a shortlist of vendors to evaluate, based on an assessment of their technical fit, business fit and usability. Read on to learn what the findings were in the 2022 Gartner® Critical Capabilities® for Financial Planning Software¹ report.

Sorting Out the Vendor Landscape

Gartner predicts that the financial planning software market will change dramatically over the next five years, with added emphasis on AI to help identify trends and patterns across large datasets. AI will also be applied to predictive forecasts to maximize operational efficiency, reduce labor costs and produce real-time forecasts and scenarios, thus helping CFOs respond with agility.

Gartner also predicts that the importance of financial planning solutions will continue to increase as CFOs assume a leading role in driving more agile and continuous enterprise-wide planning in a rapidly changing business environment.

In December of 2022, Gartner published their Magic Quadrant® for Financial Planning Software² report, which provided an assessment of the top 14 vendors in the market. The Magic Quadrant report categorizes vendors as Leaders, Visionaries, Challenges and Niche players and can be useful in identifying a shortlist of vendors to evaluate.

OneStream was recognized as one of the Leaders in this report.

The Magic Quadrant report was followed by the release of the Gartner Critical Capabilities for Financial Planning Software report in late December.  The purpose of the Gartner Critical Capabilities report is to complement the Magic Quadrants by scoring vendors against specific capabilities and customer use cases, to help customers better select vendors that might match their requirements.

Critical Capabilities for Financial Planning

So what were the “critical capabilities” the Gartner analyst team used for their assessment of vendors in the Magic Quadrant and Critical Capabilities reports?  For FP&A software, the 8 capabilities evaluated were:

• Configurable Models – focuses on a provider’s ability to create flexible models that align with buyers’ requirements, with the goal of optimizing financial outcomes.
• Scenario Modeling – helps finance teams evaluate the efficacy of strategies, tactics and plans for a range of scenarios.
• Data Integration – focuses on the provider’s primary data integration capabilities, such as the ability to connect to both source ERP and non-ERP systems.
• Advanced Analytics – ability to generate analytic insights and present them via a user-friendly dashboard that emphasizes predictive reporting outputs and the business relevance of insights.
• Capacity – focuses on the software’s ability to support a high number of concurrent users without compromising system performance.
• Workflow Automation – ensures that planning cycles are governed, planning contributors are tracked, authorization rules are followed, and bottlenecks are identified and resolved.
• User Experience/Governance – requires every aspect of a provider’s application to deliver a high quality user experience.
• Implementation Strategy – demands that the provider have an established implementation strategy, connectors and templates that help clients facilitate implementation of its product.

Gartner then weights each capability for 3 different customer use cases that were identified, including:

• Efficiency – This use case focuses on the goal of increasing efficiency and productivity within an organization’s planning, budgeting and forecasting processes.
• Improve Operational Visibility and Management – This use case focuses on the organization’s primary goal of improving operational visibility and management through the use of financial planning software.
• Complex Business Environment – This use case relates to organizations with a complex scope that require advanced data integrations and support for a large number of concurrent users and large data volumes.

OneStream’s Rankings

Below is a summary of OneStream’s rankings vs. other vendors in this report, across the three use cases.  As you’ll see, OneStream was ranked #1 in the Complex Business Environments use case, while also being ranked in the top 4 vendors in Efficiency Use Case and tied for 3^rd in the Improved Operational Visibility and Management User Case.

We believe that OneStream being ranked #1 for Complex Business Environments demonstrates that we are a great choice for mid-sized to larger organizations with complex requirements, the need to integrate data from multiple ERP systems and other sources, and who need to support a large number of concurrent users and large data volumes.  At the same time, we believe OneStream should also be considered for other use cases where customers are looking to Increase Efficiency in their planning process or Improved Operational Visibility and Management (e.g., Effectiveness).

Regarding the need for efficiency, for true enterprise planning, OneStream suggests organizations consider how they can create value and efficiency by leveraging a unified CPM software platform with an extensible data model for both financial and operational planning, that eliminates the need for separate products or to “connect” multiple planning models.

OneStream’s Intelligent Finance Platform also delivers improved operational visibility and management by aligning financial and operational planning, reporting and analytics in a single application that supports intelligent decision-making across the enterprise.

Learn More

Being recognized by Gartner as a Leader in the Magic Quadrant for Financial Planning Software was important for us as a company. But equally important is being highly ranked in all use cases in the Critical Capabilities report.  To learn more, download a complimentary copy of the Gartner Critical Capabilities Report for Financial Planning Software and contact OneStream if you would like to evaluate how we can address your organization’s business requirements.

Download the Analyst Report

¹Gartner Critical Capabilities for Financial Planning Software, Regina Crowder, Matthew Mowrey, Farrah Watson 19 December 2022

²Gartner Magic Quadrant for Financial Planning Software, Regina Crowder, Matthew Mowrey, Farrah Watson 14 December 2022

GARTNER is a registered trademark and service mark of Gartner and Magic Quadrant is a registered trademark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and internationally and are used herein with permission. All rights reserved.

Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner’s research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

Having near real-time visibility into key financial and operating metrics, and the ability to support agile planning and forecasting are essential capabilities for navigating today’s volatile global economy.  The pandemic and post-pandemic economic volatility have been a wake-up call for organizations that have been relying on spreadsheets or aging planning applications that hinder agility and the ability of CFOs and their teams to partner with business leaders to react quickly to impact bottom-line performance under rapidly changing conditions.  And it’s driving demand for modern, cloud-based financial planning software applications.

So it’s timely that the 2022 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ report for Financial Planning Software¹ was recently published, highlighting key market trends and providing an assessment of the top 14 vendors in the market.  Read on to hear the highlights of the report.

Planning in the Cloud

According to Gartner, “Financial planning software is at the forefront of finance modernization efforts. It has taken this prominent position as CFOs and FP&A leaders assume a leading role in driving more agile, accurate and continuous companywide planning, with the aspiration to become valued strategic business partners to the rest of the enterprise.”

In the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Financial Planning Software, published in December 2022, the analyst firm highlighted how the financial planning software market has shifted from on-premises deployment to cloud, with most migrations and new implementations deployed as SaaS/cloud offerings. Why is this?

The reason is that cloud solutions are faster to deploy, easier to implement, use and maintain with little need for IT staff. They also lend themselves to broader adoption through self-service and user-friendly reporting and analytics. They support modern planning requirements such as rolling forecasts, driver-based planning and scenario modeling. And finally, cloud-based planning solutions support improved collaboration and alignment across the enterprise and between finance and operations teams.

AI-Powered Planning Will Become Mainstream

In the report, Gartner highlighted several key market trends that are driving rapid growth in the FP&A software market.  This includes the following:

• CFOs are playing a more strategic role in enterprise-wide decision support
• The need to execute planning and forecasting more efficiently through automation
• Demand for improved alignment of financial plans with operational plans in IT, HR, Sales, Marketing, Supply Chain and other functions.
• Interest in predictive forecasting and tapping into larger volumes of data available from enterprise systems.
• Demand for AI and Machine Learning (ML) models that can combine internal and external data to support more intelligent forecasting and decision-making.

The report highlights that today, these more advanced forms of analytics are innovative in modern planning solutions, but Gartner predicts they will become more of a standard expectation as additional vendors include them in their offerings.

Assessing the Vendor Landscape

Of course, the key focus of any Gartner Magic Quadrant report is the assessment and grouping of the various vendors in the market as Leaders, Visionaries, Challengers or Niche vendors.  So what was Gartner’s assessment of the Financial Planning software vendor landscape in 2022? Well – I am pleased to report that OneStream is positioned as a Leader, along with Oracle, Anaplan, Workday, Wolters Kluwer and Board (see figure 1).

Why was OneStream recognized as a Leader in the report?  I suggest reading the entire report to get the full story, but a few strengths highlighted in the report are:

• Robust product that can collect data at different levels of granularity and connect to a wide variety of data sources.
• Extensive user capacity and performance, with the ability to support a large number of concurrent users and with our Extensible Dimensionality®
• OneStream™ MarketPlace which provides customers with access to over 50 productivity tools and business solutions they can download, configure and deploy to quickly address new requirements.

In a press release announcing OneStream being recognized again by Gartner as a leader, OneStream CEO Tom Shea commented, “We believe this recognition reflects our strong momentum in the market and the value customers gain by adopting OneStream’s unified, extensible platform to streamline their complex financial processes across planning, reporting and analytics. As Finance leaders navigate today’s complex and changing business environment, OneStream provides the trusted data-backed insights for rapid decision making and improved financial and operational performance.”

Learn More

To learn more about the key market trends, and how OneStream compares to the other vendors in the financial planning software market, download the Gartner MQ report and contact OneStream if your organization is ready to reduce reliance on spreadsheets and legacy applications and lead at speed!

¹Gartner Magic Quadrant for Financial Planning Software, Regina Crowder, Matthew Mowrey, Farrah Watson 14 December 2022

GARTNER is a registered trademark and service mark of Gartner and Magic Quadrant is a registered trademark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and internationally and are used herein with permission. All rights reserved.

Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner’s research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

Download the Analyst Report

Planning and budgeting for 2023 may be one of the biggest challenges organizations have faced in many years.  The global economic landscape includes many complexities such as ongoing inflation and rising interest rates, volatile gas and oil prices, continued supply chain bottlenecks, and geo-political instability.  In order to navigate through these challenges, it’s imperative that organizations have agile planning, budgeting and forecasting processes and systems that can align finance and operations across the enterprise.

It’s with this backdrop that International Data Corporation (IDC) recently published their MarketScape report for Worldwide Enterprise Planning, Budgeting and Forecasting Applications.  Read on to learn about the key market trends highlighted in the report and why OneStream was recognized as a Leader in the market.

A Snapshot of the Enterprise Planning Applications Landscape

IDC has published MarketScape reports covering the Enterprise Performance Management (EPM) software market for several years now.  For 2022, IDC focused the MarketScape report on enterprise planning, budgeting, and forecasting software applications that combine data ingestion, modeling, analysis, and visualization functionality along with built-in functionality for collaboration, knowledge sharing, and workflow management.

These applications are a subset of the broader EPM software applications market, which in addition to the above mentioned functionality, incorporates functionality for financial close and consolidation, financial reporting, cross-functional risk management, and various performance management methodologies, such as objectives and key results.

Advanced Analytics and Automation at the Forefront

According to IDC, modern applications in the enterprise planning market are cloud-based and incorporate advanced analytics, artificial intelligence (AI) or machine learning (ML) to augment or automate processes involved in financial analysis, budgeting, forecasting single or cross-functional planning, and scenario analysis.  Other key trends identified in the report include the following:

• The market disruptions enterprises are facing have increased the differentiating value of decision making and planning agility.
• This is driving demand for functionality for cross-functional and continuous planning, contingency planning, scenario planning, and constraint-based analysis.
• In additional to planning agility, organizations are seeking greater automation of tasks within these processes.
• Some of the latest developments in this software market are:
  • Incorporation of AI/ML to support predictive forecasting, anomaly detection, and scenario analysis.
  • The build-out of more industry and business function content to accelerate time to software deployment and support specialized needs across the organization.
  • Increased functionality for in-software asynchronous and synchronous collaboration and knowledge creation, retention, and sharing.
  • Scalability and performance improvements through a new generation of cloud-based applications.

IDC expects rapid innovation in this software market to continue as technology providers are reacting to demand driven by continued market volatility and as private equity investors inject new capital into this market segment.

Evaluating the Players

A key focus of the IDC MarketScape methodology is the vendor assessment.  This assessment examines both quantitative and qualitative characteristics of the top 13 vendors in the Enterprise Planning, Budgeting and Forecasting Applications market along two MarketScape dimensions: Capabilities and Strategies.

The size of the vendor “bubbles” in the MarketScape graphic represent the relative market share of the vendors based on total software revenue, which includes both cloud subscriptions as well as maintenance revenue from legacy on-premise EPM applications.

So what were the results of the vendor assessment for the 2022 report?  Well, I’m pleased to report that IDC recognized OneStream as one of the Leaders in the market, along with Oracle, SAP, IBM, Anaplan and Workday (see figure 1).

Figure 1: IDC MarketScape for Enterprise Planning, Budgeting and Forecasting  Applications 2022 IDC MarketScape vendor analysis model is designed to provide an overview of the competitive fitness of ICT suppliers in a given market. The research methodology utilizes a rigorous scoring methodology based on both qualitative and quantitative criteria that results in a single graphical illustration of each vendor’s position within a given market. The Capabilities score measures vendor product, go-to-market and business execution in the short-term. The Strategy score measures alignment of vendor strategies with customer requirements in a 3-5-year timeframe. Vendor market share is represented by the size of the icons.

Key strengths of OneStream highlighted in the report include:

• Modern and appealing user interface that supports workflows through visual cues
• Solid integration with other business applications
• Comprehensive solution to customers’ EPM needs
• Business rules are easy to define
• Ease of maintenance and upgrades
• Extensible and flexible dimension management

IDC also commented that OneStream is ideal for customers that have complex multi-ERP environments and need a tool for unifying multiple legacy EPM apps into one platform.

Learn More

If your organization is already using OneStream for EPM, this recognition of OneStream as a leader in the market is validation that you made a great decision.  If your organization is evaluating enterprise planning applications, you’ll want to make sure OneStream is on your shortlist. To learn more, download the 2022 IDC MarketScape report and contact OneStream if you are interested in seeing a live demonstration

Download the Analyst Report

2022 has been a challenging year for individuals and corporations.  Geo-political instability due to the war in Ukraine has led the headlines for most of the year, along with higher fuel prices, widespread inflation, continued supply chain bottlenecks, rising interest rates and falling financial markets.  With planning and budgeting season upon us, what assumptions are CFOs and Finance executives making about what lies ahead and how is that impacting corporate financial planning for 2023?

Taking the Pulse of Financial Leaders

To understand how financial leaders are planning for 2023, OneStream Software sponsored a Hanover Research survey of over 650 Financial Decision Makers in the North America, as well as EMEA.  The goal of the survey was to understand financial leaders’ expectations for 2023 regarding inflation, potential recession, supply chain disruptions, talent management, ESG and DEI initiatives, and technology investments. Read on to learn the results of the Fall 2022  Financial Decision Makers Outlook survey.

Economic Headwinds Persist

According to the Fall 2022 survey, economic disruptions/recession are still the top concern for nearly half of organizations for 2023, far outdistancing concerns about talent shortages, cybersecurity, supply chain disruption, and geopolitical disruption. This was also the top concern earlier this year at 30%; however, in the Fall 2022 survey, this rose to 47% of respondents (see figure 1).

Figure 1 – Top Business Risks for 2023

With inflation continuing to plague both individuals and enterprises, price increases are the number one way that businesses have dealt with inflation (56%), followed by slowed hiring or reduced specific operational costs (47%). Nearly half of businesses have slowed hiring or reduced specific operational costs, another significant increase from a year ago (see figure 2).

Figure 2 – Preparations for Changing Inflation Rates

With regards to the potential for recession, similarly, two-thirds of financial leaders expect a recession to occur and last until late 2023 or later.  Three-quarters of financial leaders also expect the pandemic-related supply chain issues to continue into 2023; however, very few (8%) expect it to extend beyond 2023. Most financial leaders (85%) have made at least slight alterations to their 2023 forecasts and strategies in preparation of an impending recession, according to the survey.

DEI and ESG Initiatives Still in Focus

Despite the economic headwinds that are predicted, and with the new mandatory disclosure requirements being proposed by the US SEC and regulators in other countries, investments in ESG and DEI remain a priority.  Half of organizations surveyed expect to invest more in DEI and ESG goals and Initiatives in 2023 than in 2022.  This is a significant drop compared to expectations from earlier this year (65% in DEI and 60% in ESG). Still, over a third of enterprises expect to invest the same in DEI and ESG in 2023 (38% and 39%, respectively) (see figure 3).

Figure 3 – DEI and ESG Investment Plans

When asked about their plans to prepare for changing ESG Reporting requirements, nearly half of financial executives surveyed have started or plan to start forming an internal ESG/Sustainability team to define policies and disclosures.  A similar proportion (41%) will begin (or have already begun) implementing new ESG/sustainability policies. Compared to earlier this year, fewer are planning to invest in software to support ESG data collection and reporting. Among those who currently don’t have a plan in place, half (50%) indicate they may implement a plan if ESG reporting mandates impact their organizations.

When asked about what type of software is currently being used or planned to be used to support ESG reporting, extensions of CPM software (52%) are the most used software for supporting the collection and reporting of ESG data. 

Investments in Cloud Planning and Analysis Tools Increasing

The economic uncertainty and potential recession that’s predicted for 2023 will require Finance teams to do more with the same or less resources, which also points to the need for more automation and digital technologies to help streamline planning, reporting and analysis processes. 

According to the Fall 2022 survey, over half of financial leaders predict investing more in cloud-based planning and reporting solutions in 2023 than in 2022.  Meanwhile, only one-third of companies (37%) predict investing more on machine learning. This is significantly fewer than predicted both last fall and earlier this year (see figure 4).

Figure 4 – Expected Investment in Data Analysis Tools

When asked about the top use cases for artificial intelligence or machine learning, surprisingly, financial reporting is the top opportunity identified by financial leaders in the Fall 2022 survey.  This was followed by sales/revenue forecasting (41%) and demand planning (39%) as the second and third largest opportunity for organizations. Very few financial leaders (3%) do not see any opportunities for AI/machine learning to help their business.

Learn More

The results of the Fall 2022 Financial Decision Makers Survey highlighted the ongoing business challenges CFOs and Finance leaders face as they exit 2022 and plan for what’s ahead in 2023.   Inflation, higher interest rates, supply chain bottlenecks, and recession are here to stay in 2022 and most Finance executives expect them to continue into 2023. The mandatory ESG disclosures being proposed by the US SEC are driving many organizations to invest in their ESG processes and software to help not only with reporting compliance, but also with planning and managing ESG and DEI initiatives. 

The good news is that today’s cloud-based analytical software technologies are seeing increased adoption and are proving their worth in helping Finance teams become more efficient, plan and navigate a volatile economic landscape and increase their agility to respond.  Artificial intelligence and machine learning adoption lags more mainstream planning and predictive analytics tools, but as these capabilities are embedded into modern planning, reporting and analytical software applications, Finance adoption is poised to expand rapidly. 

To learn more, download the Hanover Research Fall 2022 Finance Leaders Outlook report and contact OneStream if your organization needs help conquering the complexities of today’s economic landscape.

Download the Analyst Report

Finance leaders continue to face ongoing challenges and economic disruption in 2022. From inflation and supply chain challenges to the war on talent stemming from The Great Resignation, finance teams are tasked with navigating a constantly changing landscape. Using the right tools for their organization’s unique needs can be the make-or-break factor to drive long-term success and differentiate from the competition.

But there is no one-size-fits-all solution. With so many options in the marketplace, how can you cut through the clutter to find the option that works best for your organization? Enter: The BARC Planning Survey 22, which leverages the feedback and experiences of your trusted peers in Corporate Finance to help you determine which solution best suits your organization’s unique needs.

More About BARC: The Business Application Research Center

The Business Application Research Center (BARC) is an industry analyst and consulting firm for business software.  BARC analysts have supported companies through strategy, organization, architecture, and software evaluations for more than 20 years.  For more information, visit www.barc-research.com

To support Corporate Finance teams, BARC covers the following critical areas:

• Business intelligence/analytics
• Data management
• Enterprise content management (ECM)
• Customer relationship management
• Enterprise resource planning (ERP)

BARC Planning Survey 22

The Planning Survey 22 is based on findings from the world’s largest and most comprehensive survey of planning software users, examining user feedback on planning processes and product selection. Conducted from November 2021 to February 2022, The Planning Survey compiles responses from 1,325 individuals analyzing 19 products or groups of products in detail.

Specifically, the survey examines user feedback on planning product selection and usage across 33 key performance indicators (KPIs) including

For more information on the survey, visit The BARC Survey website.

Laser-Focused on Customer Success

OneStream’s corporate mission is to deliver customer success, ensuring every customer is a reference – one success at a time. As we remain dedicated to this mission, we’re honored to earn a 100% recommendation score from all surveyed users for the second consecutive year.

Furthermore, OneStream earned 15 top rankings (see Figure 1) across four different peer groups. The company was measured across several different KPIs, including:

• Vendor support
• Price to value
• Workflow
• Functionality
• Competitive win rate
• Data integration
• Planning content
• Forecasting
• Reporting & analysis

Additionally, OneStream earned 33 leading positions across its four peer groups, including product satisfaction, customer satisfaction, flexibility, workflow, recommendation, simulation, cloud planning, and financial consolidation.

“OneStream’s outstanding performance in this year’s Planning Survey reinforces the vendor’s dedication to delivering 100% customer success. As a market-leading CPM platform, OneStream helps organizations improve employee productivity, increase the transparency of planning and improve the integration of planning with reporting and analysis.  The platform’s comprehensive capabilities for financial consolidation and close, planning, budgeting and forecasting, reporting, analysis, and financial data quality management – all in a single application – makes OneStream a modern, future-proof solution for organizations seeking digital transformation,” said Dr. Christian Fuchs, Senior Vice-President and Head of Data & Analytics Research at BARC.

Learn More

OneStream is honored to receive standout results this year in The BARC Planning Survey. The report recognizes OneStream’s capabilities across financial close, consolidation, planning, and analysis as a best-in-class platform. The recognition is all the more meaningful as the rankings come directly from our committed customers and users across the globe.

To learn more about OneStream’s results, click here to download the full BARC Planning Survey 22.

Download the Report

At OneStream Software, our mission is that “every customer is a reference, one success at a time.”  That base of successful customers has been growing rapidly, now numbering over 900 organizations globally, and it’s really gratifying to see and hear about the benefits and value our solution is delivering to customers.  Recently, Nucleus Research published a report highlighting how OneStream customers have reduced their financial close and planning cycles by up to 50% by implementing our platform.  Read on to learn more about the report and the results cited.

Delivering Tangible Value to Customers

Delivering 100% customer success might sound like a catchy tagline for some companies, but at OneStream this is central to our mission, and it drives everything we do as a company.  The results speak for themselves, with over 900 organizations globally, across all industries and geographies deploying our unified CPM software platform and achieving great results.  What type of results?  We think about the customer value being delivered by our platform across four key pillars:

• Reduced Technical Debt – Lower cost of ownership by eliminating multiple legacy applications and manual processes
• Increased Efficiency – average improvements of 39% in financial close and consolidation, 74% in reporting, and 32% in planning and budgeting – freeing up FTEs to focus on more value-added tasks.
• Improved Effectiveness – The impact on the business of making faster, more informed decisions.
• Reduced Risk – Benefits associated with avoiding costly mistakes that could harm the company, including reduced audit fees, fines, and compliance penalties.

OneStream has published numerous customer success stories that demonstrate how customers have achieved benefits and value in their organizations across these four pillars, and there has also been external validation of this value.  The most recent is a report published by Nucleus Research that highlights how OneStream reduces financial close and planning processes by up to 50%.

Nucleus Research Validates Customer Success Claims

As part of the research process for the 2022 Nucleus Research Value Matrix for CPM solutions, the analysts at Nucleus interviewed several OneStream customers to learn about the benefits and value they had achieved through their deployments.  Through these interviews, Nucleus found that organizations can complete budgeting and reporting cycles at least twice as fast with our unified platform and can also accelerate account reconciliations by 25%.

In addition to the efficiency gains highlighted above, Nucleus found that OneStream customers leveraged our unified CPM platform to eliminate various point solutions and integration solutions. One customer interviewed by Nucleus saved $150,000 annually in avoided subscription costs. Another customer replaced eight different Oracle Hyperion Financial Management (HFM) applications with OneStream, significantly reducing annual spend related to Oracle HFM licenses and maintenance.

According to the Nucleus report, “This value proposition compounds for large enterprises and conglomerates looking to simplify complex reporting structures and standardize their close, consolidations, planning, and reporting processes.” As merger and acquisition (M&A) activity continue to increase throughout 2022, Nucleus expects the adoption of comprehensive CPM solutions like OneStream to accelerate.

Learn More

In the report titled “OneStream Cuts the Monthly Close in Half” Nucleus Research found that by offering a unified set of CPM capabilities within a single platform of solutions, OneStream streamlines user adoption and eliminates data exchanges to reduce cost and extend end-user value. Nucleus found that this value proposition is enhanced for conglomerates and organizations with acquisition-led growth strategies seeking to integrate systems and standardize financial processes across the organization.

As organizations continue to expand and outgrow their best-of-breed solutions, Nucleus expects OneStream to gain further appeal for its ability to connect siloed systems and simplify a wide range of enterprise processes. To learn more, download the report and contact OneStream if your organization is ready to jettison multiple legacy applications and embrace the future of Finance.

Download the Analyst Report

Europe is an important market for OneStream and the company has been gaining increasing adoption of our solution by organizations across the region.  In fact, in 2021, OneStream reported especially strong growth in EMEA as full-year 2021 bookings grew over 200 percent year over year.  As a result of increased customer adoption, OneStream is also gaining recognition as a leader in the market from IT industry analyst firms in the EMEA region.

Most recently, OneStream has been named a Market Leader for the third consecutive year in the BARC Score Financial Performance Management 2022 report, ranking among the highest portfolio capabilities and market execution scores across vendors. Read on to learn more about the report and why OneStream was recognized as a leader

Financial Performance Management in 2022

Corporate performance management (CPM) continues to play a critical role in organizational growth and competitiveness, with the goal of aligning an organization’s strategy and goals with business processes in order to achieve the highest level of performance across strategic, tactical, and operational levels. According to European industry analyst firm BARC, as the age of digitization and globalization continues, companies are waking up to the need for transparency in financial processes in order to achieve efficient management. This transparency requires examining both what has happened in the past as well as anticipating future developments in an organization’s goals and structures. As a result, financial performance management (FPM) serves as one of the central management tasks in an organization at the strategic, tactical, and operational levels.

What is the BARC Score?

The BARC Score is an annual report that ranks vendors based on BARC analyst feedback and assessments for a specific software market against a set of detailed criteria. Vendors are evaluated on two dimensions – “Portfolio Capabilities” and “Market Execution” – and categorized among five segments: Entrants, Specialists, Challengers, Market Leaders, and Dominators.

As depicted in the graphic below, in the 2022 BARC FPM Score report, OneStream is recognized as a Market Leader, with one of the highest rankings for Portfolio Capabilities combined with increasingly strong scores on Market Execution.

2022 BARC Score Financial Performance Management – Global

This is the third consecutive year OneStream has been named a Market Leader across Global vendors. Below are key details from BARC’s evaluation of OneStream:

• Single Unified Platform: BARC recognizes that OneStream was developed as a single platform to allow for a unified approach to support the CPM processes and information streams in an organization across financial close and consolidation, planning, budgeting, forecasting, reporting, analysis, and financial data quality management.
• OneStream MarketPlace: The report highlights OneStream’s MarketPlace, which allows customers to extend the platform with additional capabilities, with over 50 predefined business and productivity solutions that are fully supported and free of charge for customers.
• Excellent Customer Feedback: Excellent customer feedback for many KPIs in BARC’s ‘The Planning Survey’ for years, including project success, price-to-value, vendor support, product satisfaction, and functionality.

Dr. Christian Fuchs, Senior Vice President and Head of Data & Analytics Research at BARC, said about OneStream’s performance, “OneStream is recognized for its comprehensive solution that allows for a single unified approach to support various CPM processes and information streams in organizations. It serves as a unified, robust, and comprehensive CPM solution with an extensive partner network that enables the platform to expand globally. With over 900 customers globally and a mission of each customer as a reference, OneStream maintains a stronghold as a leader in this market.”

“We are honored to be recognized in the BARC Score Financial Performance Management Report as a market leader for the third consecutive year,” said Matt Rodgers, SVP EMEA Managing Director at OneStream. “The BARC Score demonstrates our commitment to driving customer success for organizations globally, especially those based in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. We will continue focusing our efforts on enabling organizations to conquer business complexity and lead at speed across EMEA, and globally.”

Learn More

To learn more about OneStream’s performance in the 2022 BARC Score for Financial Performance Management, download your complimentary copy here.

Download the Report

La pandemia de la COVID-19 es un «cisne negro» que pilló a la mayoría de las organizaciones desprevenidas. Este episodio perturbador ha constituido una llamada de atención sobre el hecho de que las consecuencias de la incertidumbre, las dinámicas y la complejidad de los mercados no pueden seguir ignorándose.  En el futuro, los acontecimientos locales en una economía mundial cada vez más interconectada y las incertidumbres como la crisis climática seguirán generando una importante volatilidad e incluso situaciones de caos. En consecuencia, numerosos negocios deberán modificar sus prácticas en materia de gobierno corporativo para satisfacer estas necesidades.

Aunque muchas organizaciones han modificado sus procesos de planificación y previsión en los últimos 18 meses, es posible que algunas hayan aplicado soluciones a corto plazo que no han aportado las mejoras sustanciales y duraderas necesarias. En una encuesta reciente, la firma, Business Application Research Center (BARC) examinó las contribuciones potenciales de unas prácticas de planificación y previsión modernas a la gestión del negocio y las medidas que las organizaciones están adoptando para cumplir con unos requisitos exigentes.

La planificación y la previsión en un mundo pospandémico

Los procesos de planificación y previsión en las organizaciones a escala global se están poniendo a prueba debido a las recientes turbulencias causadas por la pandemia y el cambio de prioridades correspondiente. Por consiguiente, los directivos financieros y los responsables de la toma de decisiones se plantean los siguientes interrogantes: ¿Sigue estando actualizado nuestro enfoque? ¿Sigue siendo adecuada la tecnología seleccionada? ¿El esfuerzo se corresponde con el beneficio? ¿Hay métodos mejores que debamos considerar?

Para evaluar la contribución que podrían proporcionar en el futuro la planificación, la presupuestación y la previsión, BARC llevó a cabo una encuesta entre más de 400 directivos de los ámbitos informático y financiero, así como de distintas líneas de negocio.  Esta se realizó entre mayo y junio de 2021 con el objetivo de conocer sus retos y necesidades en materia de planificación y previsión, así como las medidas que las organizaciones están adoptando y tienen previsto adoptar para alcanzar sus objetivos.

Estos son los aspectos más destacados de las 6 principales conclusiones de la encuesta.

1.  En un mundo cada vez más dinámico, el pronóstico de los acontecimientos es limitado.

En la encuesta Future of Planning de BARC el 89 % de los negocios encuestados (véase la figura 1) cree que la previsibilidad de los acontecimientos importantes que afectan considerablemente a sus actividades es reducida o prácticamente nula.  En un entorno cada vez más dinámico, la elaboración tradicional de presupuestos pierde relevancia para muchas organizaciones. Por ello, más del 80 % de los negocios coinciden en que en el futuro será más importante recurrir a previsiones más frecuentes y rápidas para orientar las decisiones en lugar de elaborar presupuestos.

Figura 1 – La previsibilidad de los acontecimientos mundiales que afectan a los negocios

La encuesta de BARC puso de manifiesto que, en la actualidad, cuatro de cada diez empresas actualizan sus previsiones al menos una vez al mes, y en el caso de las firmas líderes, estas son más de seis de cada diez.  De acuerdo con BARC, esta previsión frecuente y rápida no es factible con hojas de cálculo y tecnologías heredadas, sino que se necesitan herramientas de software modernas para ayudar en una planificación más ágil.

2.  La importancia de la planificación de una gestión de negocio ágil ha aumentado como consecuencia de la pandemia.

La elevada importancia de las previsiones y las revisiones de los planes en un contexto de gran incertidumbre se refleja en la frecuencia con la que las organizaciones realizan un mayor esfuerzo. En la encuesta de BARC, el 65 % de los negocios prefirieron haber destinado un mayor esfuerzo debido a la pandemia. Uno de los motivos fue la necesidad de realizar abundantes revisiones debido a los importantes cambios en los parámetros epidemiológicos y a las medidas políticas adoptadas para afrontar la pandemia. Por ende, la inversión en estos ámbitos se ha ampliado en lugar de reducirse, a diferencia de muchos otros.

3. Los retos actuales en materia de planificación y previsión se observan en prácticamente todas las organizaciones.

Tal como ha sucedido durante muchos años, en numerosos negocios, la planificación y la previsión se ven con recelo. Según el 95 % de los participantes en la encuesta de BARC, la planificación y la previsión tardan demasiado tiempo, consumen demasiados recursos, conllevan costes elevados y la calidad de los resultados no es satisfactoria en relación con el esfuerzo invertido.

En el dinámico entorno actual, contar con información actualizada y llevar a cabo previsiones con frecuencia son aspectos esenciales para la adopción de decisiones fundamentadas. Las previsiones frecuentes y automatizadas requieren un inventario de datos de gran calidad que se alimente regularmente con datos actualizados de fuentes internas y externas. La laboriosa consolidación de estos datos a partir de diversos sistemas de origen no solo supone un gran esfuerzo, sino que retrasa su suministro. En consecuencia, el uso de datos procedentes de múltiples fuentes es, con mucho, la principal causa de muchos de los retos mencionados anteriormente.

4.  Los programas informáticos modernos permiten una mejor integración y una mayor automatización.

Las organizaciones encuestadas por BARC consideran que el soporte de software adecuado supone una palanca esencial para mejorar la planificación y la previsión.  BARC observa actualmente dos tendencias: un cambio acelerado desde Excel hacia un software profesional de elaboración de presupuestos, planificación y previsión y la sustitución del software que ya no responde de forma óptima a las nuevas necesidades.  La mejora de la integración técnica de los planes financieros y operativos se identificó como la principal área de inversión (54 %), seguida de una mayor automatización de la gestión de datos entre los sistemas de gestión de recursos empresariales (ERP, por sus siglas en inglés) y los sistemas de planificación (50 %).  La introducción de nuevos programas informáticos (48 %) y un uso más exhaustivo de los existentes (45 %) también se encuentran entre los cuatro primeros aspectos.

5.  Los subplanes operativos y unas simulaciones sofisticadas proporcionan resultados directamente aplicables.

La ampliación de la planificación, a menudo muy orientada a las finanzas, para incluir subplanes operativos es uno de los temas más importantes de la planificación y la previsión, de acuerdo con BARC. La encuesta reveló (véase la figura 2) que en los últimos meses una proporción importante de las organizaciones (41 %) ha aspirado a obtener una planificación más detallada (mayor nivel de detalle, más subplanes), ha invertido en simulaciones e hipótesis (40 %) y ha cambiado las previsiones de fin de año por rolling forecasts (37 %).

Figura 2 – Cómo invierten las organizaciones para mejorar la planificación

6.  Una cooperación más estrecha y una mayor competencia aceleran los procesos y aumentan la calidad.

Aunque la tecnología moderna puede tener un claro impacto positivo en la planificación y la previsión, también es necesario llevar a cabo modificaciones en el seno de los negocios para lograr los resultados deseados. Según la encuesta de BARC, el 50 % de las organizaciones han invertido en proporcionar mejor documentación y soporte a los profesionales responsables de la planificación.  El 42 % de los encuestados afirmaron que se han centrado en mejorar las competencias de los responsables del proceso de planificación, lo que abarca la mejora de las capacidades relacionadas con los datos y la analítica. Asimismo, el 38 % de los encuestados formaron equipos multidisciplinares que, entre otras cosas, permitían adaptar rápidamente las previsiones y proyecciones en función de la evolución en todos los ámbitos de los negocios.

Medidas sugeridas

Con base en los resultados de la encuesta y en su experiencia en consultoría, los analistas de BARC formularon las siguientes recomendaciones para ayudar a las organizaciones a armonizar la planificación y la previsión con sus necesidades actuales y futuras:

• Identifique las pérdidas de tiempo en sus procesos y resuélvalas.
• Evalúe los costes y beneficios de la planificación y la previsión.
• Automatice las previsiones y proyecciones con métodos predictivos (por ejemplo, mediante métodos estadísticos o machine learning).
• Piense más allá de las finanzas. Incorpore subplanes operativos clave en su modelo de negocio.
• Modernice su software si aún no lo ha hecho.
• Fomente la colaboración y eleve la capacidad de análisis de los planificadores.
• Optimice la tecnología, los métodos y la organización de forma coordinada.

Conclusiones

De acuerdo con BARC, los ajustes aislados solo suelen conducir a mejoras a corto plazo. Los nuevos métodos suelen requerir un software diferente capaz de acoger nuevos enfoques y, a menudo, procesos más eficaces. El software por sí solo no resuelve los problemas; es simplemente la base tecnológica de un entorno ágil y flexible.  No en vano, hay que desarrollar activamente las competencias necesarias para un uso eficaz. Depender completamente de la experiencia externa para los cambios y adaptaciones ya no constituye un enfoque adecuado ante los constantes cambios. Para obtener más información, descargue una copia de la encuesta The Future of Planning 2021 de BARC aquí.

Budgeting and planning are top of mind for many Finance executives as they are working to finalize 2022 budgets and plans and close out 2021.  But many Finance executives and organizations realize that most annual budgets are obsolete shortly after they are approved, based on changes in the economic and business environment. So a growing number of organizations are adopting agile planning techniques such as driver-based planning and rolling forecasts to update their planning assumptions on a quarterly or monthly basis.

With this backdrop, Ventana Research recently published their Business Planning Value Index Market Report for 2022.  The data collection for this report began over a year ago and it’s a comprehensive assessment of 14 leading vendors and planning products that are available to organizations.  Read on to learn about the key market trends identified by Ventana Research and how they ranked the various vendors in the market.

Key Trends in Business Planning

According to Ventana Research, the purpose of business planning is not simply to create a plan – it’s to make better decisions, which I completely agree with.  They go on to highlight that planning and budgeting software should make the process faster, more agile, less burdensome, and more intelligent so managers can make better decisions more consistently. And since the early 2000’s Ventana and other industry influencers have advocated using dedicated, purpose-built applications to increase the business value of planning and budgeting.

While these purpose-built applications have been available for over 20 years, many organizations are still heavily reliant on spreadsheets to support planning and budgeting.  Why is this?  Ventana Research highlights that many organizations are stuck in a planning rut, the result of inertia, the power of vested interests, and the perceived risk of change.

The report goes on to highlight that while planning should be a constructive dialog between executives and managers about objectives, tactics, and resource allocations – in practice, planning is mostly an inconsistent, fragmented, and siloed process.  And the spreadsheet-based approach only reinforces these silos and compartmentalizes plans.  On the flip side, organizations that have adopted purpose-built planning software have been more successful in breaking down the silos and making the planning process more collaborative, strategic, and value add for the enterprise.

The Business Planning Value Index

The Business Planning Value Index report is the result of over a year of market and product research conducted by Ventana Research, and I have to say this is one of the more rigorous assessments of planning software vendors that I’ve been involved with.  In this report, Ventana evaluated 14 planning software vendors across seven categories that were weighted to reflect buyers’ needs.

Five of these categories are product-related:  Usability, Manageability, Reliability, Capability, and Adaptability. Vendors were also evaluated in two customer experience categories:  Vendor Validation and Total Cost of Ownership/Return on Investment (TCO/ROI).  The data was collected from vendors via an extensive RFP process, then the responses were validated through vendor briefings, demonstrations, and customer reference checks.  Product roadmaps and forward-looking strategies were not taken into account in this evaluation.

The Envelope Please!

So what did the results reveal?  According to Ventana, the Value Index for Business Planning in 2021 reflects the maturity of the business planning software category.  The top finishers were tightly clustered in terms of their overall scores, and even those at the bottom have well-developed capabilities that weren’t available 10 years ago.

The graphical representation of the Value Index shown below depicts the vendors based on their overall scores on two dimensions – Product Experience and Customer Experience.  Based on this, the vendors are placed into one of four categories:  Exemplary, Innovative, Assurance, and Merit.

So how did OneStream fare in this evaluation?  We are proud to report that OneStream was one of 5 vendors ranked as “Exemplary” in the Business Planning Value Index.  This means that OneStream was one of the highest-rated vendors in both Product Experience and Customer Experience. OneStream was ranked fifth in Product Experience, where we were designated as a Value Index Leader in Adaptability and Reliability.  OneStream was ranked sixth in Customer Experience and ranked Best in Validation.

This recognition by Ventana Research is a powerful validation of the capabilities of the OneStream platform to address the complex planning and budgeting requirements of large enterprises, while also addressing their needs in financial close, consolidation, reporting, and analysis.

Learn More

To learn more, download your copy of the Ventana Research 2022 Business Planning Value Index report and contact OneStream if your organization is ready to move beyond the limitations of legacy applications, cloud point solutions, and spreadsheets that may be preventing you from leading at speed in today’s volatile economic environment.

This article was previously published by Financial Executives International (FEI) on Nov. 30, 2021

With the COVID-19 pandemic continuing to impact the global economy in late 2021, what are Finance executives thinking about and planning for in 2022 and beyond?  When will companies return to normal growth?  Will the inflation rates we are seeing subside? What are companies’ return to office strategies and what technologies are they investing in?

These and other topics focused on the Hanover Research Financial Decision-Makers Outlook Survey for October 2021, sponsored by OneStream Software. Read on to learn how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted organizations, plans for returning to the office, talent management strategies, ESG readiness, and other planned technology investments.

Taking the Pulse of Financial Decision-Makers

The past 18+ months since the COVID-19 pandemic broke out have been challenging for everyone, but especially for global enterprises as they sought to navigate through the initial disruption and economic volatility that has ensued as a result.  The world is clearly in a better place in late 2021 compared to where it was in March of 2020, but there’s still a lot of uncertainty ahead.

Given that most organizations are now planning for 2022, we thought this would be a good time to survey financial decision-makers to get their outlook on the recovery, the impact of inflation, return to the office plans, talent management, ESG programs, and technology investments.

The survey was conducted in September – October of 2021.  The results are based on responses from 249 financial decision-makers in North America, in small, mid-sized, and larger enterprises across all industries. The following is a summary of the key findings of the survey.  A full copy of the report is also available for download here.

Economic Headwinds Take Their Toll

Some organizations have grown since the start of the pandemic, but most have stagnated or shrunk. While four out of ten organizations surveyed indicate they have grown, less than a third (30%) of organizations have shrunk while another third (31%) are still stagnated since COVID 19 struck. Of those growing, almost three-quarters (70%) are experiencing growth equivalent to pre-pandemic rates. Most of the organizations that shrunk or stagnated expect to return to pre-COVID growth in 2022 or later. (see figure 1)

According to the survey, COVID 19 resurgence has had a severe impact on businesses, namely higher operating costs, increased dependence on remote work, and delayed return to the office (RTO).  In fact, three-quarters of companies had to delay their RTO plans by a year or less.

Most companies have instituted vaccine tracking (78%) and almost two-thirds are mandating vaccines if employees wish to return to the workplace (60%). Financial decision-makers do expect some negative outcomes of vaccine tracking/mandates, including employee resignations (46%), feelings of being monitored among employees (43%), and difficulty hiring (41%).  However, they also believe this helps make employees feel safer and more likely to return to office.

Focus on Hiring and Retaining Talent

The “Great Resignation” is causing a high level of concern for financial leaders. Many are worried about employee turnover (45%), inability to meet business demands (41%), and difficulty recruiting and retaining technical talent (40%).  Training current employees and increasing benefits are the most common steps organizations are taking to address the talent shortage. To address the talent shortage, more than half of organizations surveyed are training current employees and improving benefits (see figure 2).

Inflation Expected to Continue

Two-thirds of financial leaders surveyed agree the inflation rate will increase by the end of 2022. However, they are split on when it will stabilize, with almost half (47%) speculating 2022 and 46% expecting stabilization to come later.  A high percentage of financial decision-makers are highly concerned about the impact of the inflation rate on their operating costs (82%), and revenue (80%). To prepare, 47% said they are increasing prices, 46% are adopting new technologies, 37% are renegotiating supplier contracts and 37% reducing operational costs (see figure 3).

Environmental and Social Policies Getting More Attention

Nearly all organizations are working towards integrating environmental, social, and governance (ESG) programs into their business strategy. On the social side, 71% of CFOs surveyed place the most importance on improving workplace diversity while 65% are focused on closing the gender gap.

According to finance leaders, two-thirds of organizations are at least somewhat prepared for ESG reporting changes. Particularly, 47% said they have raised transparency, 41% implemented new ESG policies, and 38% and increased oversight.  Larger companies are significantly more likely to indicate they are somewhat or fully prepared for a potential ESG reporting change. They are also more likely to form ESG teams internally as part of the preparation. (see figure 4)

Analytics and Machine Learning to the Rescue

Compared to pre-pandemic usage, the majority of companies have increased investment in data analysis tools, most notably machine learning (ML) at 62% and cloud-based planning tools at 63%.   Unsurprisingly, they also used more of these tools during this period.

Nearly all organizations are currently using machine learning or have a plan to do so.  Over two-thirds of those surveyed report setting aside more than 10% of their IT budget for investment in ML platforms. Three-quarters of financial leaders anticipate their company will increase ML usage throughout 2022.  Nearly all organizations have already adopted or are planning to investigate an AutoML solution. Intelligent process automation (45%) and data center optimization (44%) are the priority use cases for ML technology. (see figure 5)

Learn More

The Financial Decision-Makers Outlook survey of October 2021 provided a helpful snapshot of what Finance executives are thinking about and planning for as they enter 2022.  It’s encouraging to see the positive economic outlook for 2022, however, most organizations are clearly incorporating continued inflation into their plans and strategies for next year.

Attracting and retaining talent as organizations continue to support remote work is clearly a challenge and area of focus, as is implementing more formal ESG programs. And all of the market buzz around analytics and machine learning is clearly coming to fruition in the form of increasing adoption.

To learn more, download the full report here.

The COVID-19 pandemic is a “black swan” event that caught most companies unprepared. This disruptive event was a wake-up call that the impact of uncertainty, dynamics, and complexity on markets could no longer be ignored.  Going forward, local events in an increasingly interconnected global economy and uncertainties such as the climate crisis will continue to create high volatility and even chaos. Accordingly, many organizations will have to adjust their corporate governance to meet these demands.

While many organizations have adjusted their planning and forecasting processes in the past 18 months, some may have implemented short-term fixes that did not bring the significant and lasting improvements required. In a recent survey, Business Application Research Center (BARC) examined the contributions modern planning and forecasting can make to corporate management and the measures organizations are taking to meet the elevated requirements.

Planning and Forecasting in a Post-Pandemic World

Planning and forecasting processes in organizations around the world are being put to the test due to recent disruptions caused by the pandemic and shifted priorities. As a result, Finance executives and decision-makers are asking themselves the following questions: Is our approach still up to date? Is our chosen technology still fit for purpose? Does the effort match the benefit? Are there better methods we should be considering?

In order to assess the contribution that planning, budgeting, and forecasting can make in the future, BARC conducted a survey of more than 400 IT, Finance, and line of business executives.  Conducted in May and June of 2021, the focus was to learn about their planning and forecasting challenges and requirements and the measures organizations are taking and planning to take to achieve their goals.

Here are the highlights of the 6 top survey findings.

1.  In an increasingly dynamic world, the predictability of events is low.

In BARC’s Future of Planning survey, 89 percent (see Figure 1) of the companies surveyed believe that the predictability of important events that significantly affect their own business is low or close to zero.  In an increasingly dynamic environment, traditional budgeting is losing relevance for many companies. Therefore, more than 80 percent of organizations agree that it will become more important to rely on more frequent and rapid forecasts to guide business decisions instead of elaborate budgeting in the future.

Figure 1 – The predictability of global events that impact business

The BARC survey found that today, four out of ten companies update their forecasts at least once a month, and for leaders, it is even more than six out of ten.  This frequent and rapid forecasting is just not feasible with spreadsheets and legacy technologies – according to BARC, modern software tools are required to support more agile planning.

2.  The importance of planning for agile corporate management has increased as a result of the pandemic.

The elevated importance of forecasts and plan revisions in the context of high uncertainty is reflected in the frequency with which companies put in increased effort. In the BARC survey, 65% of companies reported increased effort due to the pandemic. One driver for this was the need for many revisions due to significantly changed epidemiological parameters and the political measures taken to tackle the pandemic. As a result, investment in these areas has been extended rather than reduced, unlike many other areas.

3.  Current challenges in planning and forecasting exist in almost every company.

As has been the case for many years, planning and forecasting is viewed with suspicion in many organizations. According to 95% of respondents to the BARC survey, planning and forecasting takes too long, ties up too many resources, produces high costs and the quality of the results is not good in relation to the effort involved.

In today’s dynamic environment, up-to-date information and frequent forecasts are essential to making well-founded decisions. Frequent, automated forecasts require a high-quality data inventory that is regularly fed with up-to-date data from internal and external sources. The time-consuming consolidation of this data from a variety of source systems not only involves plenty of effort but also delays its provision. As a result, the use of data from multiple sources is by far the main cause of many of the challenges mentioned above.

4.  Modern software provides for better integration and stronger automation.

Organizations surveyed by BARC see the right software support as an essential lever for improving planning and forecasting.  BARC is currently observing two trends here: an accelerated shift away from Excel to professional budgeting, planning, and forecasting software solutions and the replacement of software that no longer fits optimally with the revised requirements.  Improved technical integration of financial and operational plans was identified as the top area of investment (54%), followed by stronger automation of data management between ERP systems and planning systems (50%).  Introduction of new software (48%) and more comprehensive use of existing software (45%) were also in the top four.

5.  Operational sub-plans and sophisticated simulations provide directly actionable findings.

The expansion of planning, which is often very financially oriented, to include operational sub-plans is one of the most important topics in planning and forecasting, according to BARC. The survey found (see Figure 2) that in recent months, a significant proportion of companies (41%) have pursued more detailed planning (higher level of detail, more sub-plans), invested in simulations and scenarios (40%), and changed year-end forecasts to rolling forecasts (37%).

Figure 2 – How companies are investing to improve planning

6.  Tighter cooperation and greater competence accelerate processes and increase quality.

While modern technology can clearly have a positive impact on planning and forecasting, organizational adjustments are also needed to achieve the desired results.  According to the BARC survey, 50% of companies have invested in providing better documentation and assistance for planners.  42% of respondents said they have focused on improving the competence of those running the planning process, including improved data and analytics skills.  And 38% of respondents formed interdisciplinary teams who, among other things, could quickly adjust forecasts and projections based on developments in all areas of the business.

Suggested Actions

Based on the results of the survey and their consulting experience, BARC analysts formulated the following recommendations to help organizations align planning and forecasting with current and future requirements:

• Identify the time-wasters in your processes and address them.
• Evaluate the costs and benefits of planning and forecasting.
• Automate forecasts and projections with predictive methods (e.g., statistical methods or machine learning).
• Think beyond finance. Incorporating key operational sub-plans into your business model.
• Modernize your software if you have not already done so.
• Encourage collaboration and up-level the analytic skills of planners.
• Optimize technology, methods, and organization in a well-coordinated way.

Conclusions

According to BARC, isolated adjustments often only lead to short-term improvements. New methods usually require different software, but new software always enables new approaches and often more efficient processes. Software alone does not solve problems; it is merely the technological basis for an agile and flexible environment.  However, the necessary skills for effective use must be actively built up. Completely relying on external expertise for changes and adaptations is no longer appropriate in the face of constant changes.  To learn more, download a copy of BARC’s 2021 The Future of Planning Survey here.